Because I seem to have “an ax to grind” with many folks (some fellow ax nuts, some nuts in other ways), perhaps I ought to apologize beforehand for any ego-harm some of my comments (plus unintended prejudices and bias) in the discussions below may cause.

Rest assured, however, that my intent here is to elevate the potential usefulness of an ax – one of the tools which, as the future unfolds, I believe we will be glad that we know how to apply seriously and efficiently.

At the same time I wholeheartedly welcome constructive criticism, of course.

June 12, 2016

“Examining, feeling and handling this tool has resulted in a lot of expletives, brow furrowing and head shaking.”

This
will be the review I would have liked to have seen before buying this
hatchet, but which as far as I can see does not exist. There is a
popular resurgence in collecting and using axes and hatchets, so at this
point the majority of reviews on the internet are still by fairly
inexperienced users. As a result, there is not a whole lot of
substantial well considered information to go on when researching this
tool for purchase. When doing my own research, I found nothing at all
like what this review will be, very critical with many points
considered. This hatchet gets a lot of good reviews. It has over 280
reviews on amazon at an average of almost 4.5 stars. No one on amazon,
or anywhere else, seems to have the gripes I have with it, but I am more
inclined to trust my experience than the majority opinion. It is not
my intent to disrespect anyone else’s opinion or experience just for the
sake of it. I just think this design is lame and I feel it’s my duty
to say so plainly with no punches pulled.

The Husqvarana 13” hatchet, 15 inch total length and a
whopping 2.19 pounds with handle. I could recommend this hatchet at
this price point if virtually everything about it were different.

I’m
a huge hatchet fan. I’m frequently shocked that some people I know,
who very well ought to own a decent one, don’t own even a crappy one.
To be fair, some of them own large chopping type blades of some kind
which serve similar purposes, but many don’t. A good one handed
chopping tool is indispensable to conducting a lifestyle that is very
engaged with local resources, and to crafting and making stuff from raw
wood without using power tools. A good basic woodworking toolkit to me
is a hatchet, a knife, a saw and a rasp, possibly even in that order.
When it comes to reducing a chunk of wood to the rough shape you want
to make something, hatchets are fast and can be surprisingly accurate in
experienced hands. I have been on the lookout for many years for a
quality affordable new hatchet that I can recommend to people. The
subject of today’s review is not that tool.

I
use hatchets for carving, splitting, limbing, chopping and have packed
them around a fair amount. This experience extends about 30 years.
I’ve owned and tried quite a few of them, though I wouldn’t say that I’m
a collector, and just chopped my way through a lot of wood, filing,
restoring, breaking handles, re-handling, making mistakes. I do not
spend much time reading about hatchets and axes on forums or anywhere
else unless I’m looking for something to buy or review. The use of
hatchets is an extension of my interests and lifestyle and my opinions
are for the most part born of, experience, or at least tempered by it. I
expect certain things from the tool and it has to perform in my context
not limiting me unnecessarily with it’s design or build quality.

While
I have strong opinions about what I am familiar with, my perspective,
as in all things, is limited, so there is much I don’t know and I like
to think that I’m fully open to input, so I encourage the expression of
dissenting opinions.

Finally,
I just want to say that the options generally given to us by the market
are never set up the way I prefer them. So, I’m not just comparing
this so much to other products (almost all of which I am personally
unfamiliar with) but to something that is probably not even available on
the market. Okay, enough disclaiming, lets get started!

This
tool can do a lot of work. It is not the worst tool ever and any stone
age human would justifiably shit exclamation marks if they got ahold of
it. But it is very far from ideal from my perspective and when it
comes to tools, details matter. With a different design, all the
resources used to produce thousands of these could be put into
manufacturing a much more versatile and user friendly heirloom quality
tool.

After
reading many reviews and forum threads, and looking at specs and
pictures, I finally just bought the damn thing figuring I could sell it
if I didn’t like it. I guessed that it was going to be too heavy, but I
thought I might be able to modify it into something closer to what I
need. I bought this primarily for review. So, I dropped about 40.00
total on amazon and it was in the mail.

On
opening the package I immediately wanted my 40.00 back, and just became
more disappointed from there. I’m going to discuss all of the relevant
points in series.

STEEL:

The
only extent to which I’ve tested the edge at this point is to do some
filing, which can detect soft and hard spots. I don’t feel the need to
test it thoroughly because of other shortcomings. Judged by filing, the
temper seems even, but it is hard to tell a lot and thats all I can
say. The head is asymmetrical. It is not a problem with hafting, it’s a
problem of workmanship. The edge is out of alignment with the rest of
the head in not just one, but two planes. I can’t fix this with filing
or grinding. It has to be reheated and fixed by hammering and then the
head has to be re-tempered. I’ve done a fair bit of blacksmithing and
it really looks like it just wasn’t finished out carefully. A few more
hammer taps should have at least aligned the blade with the rest of the
head. This is not protracted hard work, its quick detail work, but at
this price point, I doubt they even have time for such details. This is
a common problem, especially in these modern forged axes. If the work
can’t be carried out well, “hand forged” becomes a liability rather than
an asset.

Edge alignment is a common problem, but seemingly much more
in the new abundance of forged axes. If possible, buy these type axes
in person so you can examine them, or at least get a dealer to grade out
the best head and handle for you and make sure it’s returnable.

It
is not sharp in any sense and needs major edge work. That’s fine.
That is something I expect from a $40.00 forged hatchet because it is
time saved in the factory which keeps the price low. When I look at any
axe to buy, I’m not thinking that much about the handle, which is
almost a consumable item. It is likely going to be replaced at some
point with long use, and often sooner than later by a novice, because we
tend to be hard on handles when we start out. I mean it is certainly
nice to get a good handle, but it can be replaced. It is the head that
most of us can’t make or modify beyond what we can do with grinders and
files, and that is the investment you are really making. The head I
bought was a poor investment.

WEIGHT

This
is a heavy hatchet. The head is between a small axe head and a
hatchet. Hefting it with one hand for any extended time may be
something of a chore for a lot of people. If you choke up on it,
meaning move your hand up the handle closer to the head, it is easier,
but there are also design issues with that, which we will get to
presently.

PORTABILITY

Portability
of a hatchet basically comes down mostly to size and weight. This one
is portable in terms of length, but it is quite heavy. I would actually
consider packing a tool this heavy around under some circumstances,
just not a short handled hatchet. My Gransfors forest axe is only .4
pounds heavier and it’s a tool that can do some serious work. The
Husqvarna can do a minimal amount of work, FOR IT’S WEIGHT. When
comparing the two, this tool is a joke. Yes, a short tool is also more
portable. But, if you are making a tool to be transported by human
power, just sticking more weight on the end of it is not a very good
solution to the fact that it’s form has certain limits. This tool is
probably not really designed with packing in mind. I hope not anyway.
If the handle was truly long enough to use with two hands, a person
would be able to do a lot more work, but then it wouldn’t be a hatchet
anymore. The other reason that one might put a short handle on a heavy
tool is for hewing and carving type work. This tool however seems in no
way specially designed for that type of work. If anything, the overall
form and thick handle make it very unsuited to such uses.

.4 pounds of difference between a tool that is very capable
at many types of work and one that is not nearly so capable of heavy
work. If axes are thought of in terms of portability (one of the main
reasons for short handles) it makes sense for a very short axe (hatchet)
to be also light enough to carry. That has to do with a sort of ratio
of how heavy the tool is to how much work it can do. In this case, the
excessive weight is not taken advantage of by the short handle. To be
fair, some ounces of wood could be removed from the handle to lighten it
up.

HANDLE

The
handle length to weight ratio on this hatchet is odd to me. The handle is
shorter than my coveted baby Swedish hatchet which weighs 17.5 oz in
total. The Husqvarna is 2.19 lb in total. But my hatchet handles tend
to be long relative to the norm. I have a long standing suspicion that
the head size to handle length ratio in hatchets and axes is typically
determined more by what looks balanced rather than according to
practical considerations. I think the handle on my little hatchet is
just right, but it looks kind of funny from the sort of natural
aesthetic standpoint that gives us things like the golden mean or rule
of thirds. This Husqvarna hatchet actually errs in the other direction,
with the handle, if anything, appearing oddly short and stubby relative
to the head size.

If
the handle on a given head is longer you have more leverage, which
means that your effort is more or less amplified. With a longer handle
the Husqvarna could be a much more useful tool. Then again, since it is
so heavy, it could only be hefted near the end of a long handle with
one hand for a shorter period of time in comparison to a lighter tool on
the same long handle. In one way, the handle length may make sense if
you are forced by a short handle to use this heavy tool with one hand.
So the one point I can give this tool, regarding the handle length and
shape, is that it is probably designed around the sweet spot for this
hatchet if it is to gripped in one spot and swung over and over. But,
given the shape of the handle, which we will address next, it is
somewhat to very awkward to use when gripped outside of that area,
making it something of a one trick pony. So, this handle length might
make sense in that one way given the heavy size of the head, but I’d
still be inclined to put a long handle on it because the head is just
pretty large. I wouldn’t be inclined to put a boys axe sized handle on
it, but something long enough to use with two hands, though pretty well
suited to using with one hand too. Something similar to a lot of
bushcraft axe designs.

In
regards to the handle shape, at this point I feel near 100% sold on
straight handles for hatchets. I use my hatchets for a very wide
variety of tasks and am constantly sliding my hand up and down the
handle to grab it exactly where I want to. If I want more control I
choke way up on it. If I need more power for chopping I’m holding it at
the end. If I’m becoming fatigued I choke up on it a little bit. I
can shift easily to any spot. Curved handles are limiting, and for what
benefit? I’ve yet to determine that there is any tangible and
meaningful benefit to an S-curved handle on a hatchet. But there are
un-benefits to be sure. When I pick up a curved handled hatchet it
typically feels inhibiting and awkward, though some are better or
worse. Again and foremost, they are less ergonomic when shifting your
grip up and down the handle. That is a major consideration to me since I
do that constantly. They are also more prone to breakage. To be fair,
this concern is minor if the grain of the handle is properly aligned
and of quality wood, but it is still true and relevant enough to
mention. The curves on this tool are strong and packed into a short
distance. The bottom line is that it just feels really awkward, except
when grasped where it is designed to be grasped. To me, the way I use
hatchets, this is basically a design flaw and limits its potential as
the multipurpose tool I think it should be.

The
handle is also absurdly thick, which in turn makes it heavy. It seems
like a much better club than a handle. Hickory is dense. It has one
of the highest fuel values among North American woods. Just looking at
it, I’d say 1/3rd or more of the bulk of the handle should be removed
straight away and maybe up to half. So, one third to one half the
weight to the handle is just unnecessary excess. I’ve seen this on
other Swedish axes and hatchets as well, all of them actually, at least
all of the newer forged ones. Why? I shave my handles down until they
work right. They should have some give to them in order to absorb
handle shock. I have probably never acquired a hatchet or axe handle
that I didn't shave down at least some. I would guess that they are
targeting a market of inexperienced users who are likely to be rough and
break a delicate handle pretty fast. I’ve seen a youtube video of a
guy breaking the handle on his brand new hand forged Swedish hatchet
right out of the box by gross misuse, and it was thick as hell like all
of them. But I don’t think just increasing thickness and eye size is a
good solution and I’ll address that further presently. Suffice to say
that to my way of thinking, this handle is an abomination in terms of
the clunky thudding feel of it and were I to keep it (which I wouldn’t),
I would remove a LOT of wood until it had a reasonable amount of spring
to it, because now it offers no appreciable shock absorption.

A random selection of axes and hatchets sorted roughly by
size. I’m not saying that any of these are perfect, just showing the
difference in thickness. The Husqvarna is by far the most clunky of the
lot and considerably more so than even the double bitted 3.5 lb axe
pictured, which could stand some shaving down. The next thickest is the Gransfors forest axe, except where I thinned it out near the head
quickly years ago just to make it useable at all, though it is still in
need of a proper reworking. The trend toward thick handles seems more
pronounced in these Swedish axes for some reason. The Husqvarna is the
thickest axe handle on the property. It is frankly a waste of hickory.

Finally,
the swell at the top of the handle where it enters the eye comes down
too far. It can’t be grasped at all comfortably up close to the head.
That can be reshaped by carving and rasping, but only so far, because
the eye is freakin’ HUGE! To my way of thinking, it is not an eye fit
for a hatchet. it is an axe eye. Drastic wood removal would be
required to get the handle the shape that I need for it in to function
comfortably. So, that means scooping the back out more to get the top
of the handle shaved down to a reasonable thickness for grasping up
close to the head. The huge eye pretty much kills any interest I may
have had in modifying this tool into a useable hatchet.

Showing relative widths of some handles. Note how bulky the
handle of the Husqvara is near the eye. All of the others are easily
grasped near the eye. The potential for shaving it down is limited by
the axe sized eye.

Showing relative eye sizes of some hatchets, with the
Husqvarna topping all. That could be seen as a good thing if we plan on
remaining the ham-fisted oafs that industrial society is turning us
into, but no thanks. Note the smallest eye has the oldest handle, over
20 years old. There is more than one way not to break handles, and
increasing handle thickness is not the best way, possibly the worst.
Again, this is assuming a versatile, portable hatchet. Some argument
could maybe be made for this design as beater hatchet, but I’m not
really sure that is a totally defensible position.

A
few good points on the handle: It is hafted pretty solidly, the wood
is far from the worst grade of hickory and it’s not varnished which is
good. Actually, the grain alignment is reasonable too. In competent
hands it would be very unlikely to break due to grain alignment. There
is heartwood in the handle, but that is not always a deal killer as some
would have us believe and, again, in competent hands it would probably
be just fine. It is not the top grade handle you find on more expensive
hand forged Swedish axes, but the wood is perfectly adequate. The
thickness can be fixed, but the length and shape I find unacceptable
for my personal use, so this handle is basically a total loss to me
unless I want to take it off and club fish with it.

SUMMARY AND WHERE TO GO FROM HERE:

Examining,
feeling and handling this tool has resulted in a lot of expletives,
brow furrowing and head shaking. What this tool is, is an axchet or
maybe an axshit! It is stuck between two proven concepts and seeming
more like it was tossed together from disparate ideas. It is a light
axe head, with an axe eye stuck on a too short handle that is just a
squashed axe handle, yet far too thick for even a full sized axe. I
frankly don’t like curved handles on a hatchet at all. Even if I did, I
still think this one is too drastically curved in too short of a space
and just feels awkward to handle and shift my hand around on. You can’t
choke all the way up on it comfortably, not even close, and options for
modifying it to be able to do so are limited by the large eye. The
edge is out of alignment in two planes, not from hafting, but from slack
workmanship. I didn’t really test the steel, but I would still hope
and guess that is one place where this tool is going to score well. But
again who knows. I’m not going to find out, because I’m not going to
keep it. I would consider putting a short axe handle on it which could
be used with either two hands or one, but the poor workmanship on the
head is a deal killer when I could use a symmetrical drop forged head
that I can get for cheap or free, or already have lying about. So, I’m
probably going to sell it, but that is an ethical dilemma since I
strongly un-recommend that anyone buy it! Maybe I should just eat that
40.00 and give it to my mom to use for splitting kindling, because at
least it's heavy enough to be good for that.

I
have used this hatchet a little bit. I use it as a wedge to split logs
for making handles and such, for which it is just adequate. It’s an
expensive wedge though! I’ve also used it to peel bark on the metal
tailgate of my truck because I’m not concerned in the least about
damaging the edge. Even for that light use it feels awkward and very
stiff since the handle has no appreciable flex on a tool this size.
Basically this is a beater hatchet. Having a beater hatchet around is
fine and all, but making and selling a hand forged one doesn’t make
sense to me.

THE DUMBING DOWN OF AXES

I
think this tool is probably designed for inexperienced users. The huge
eye and chunky handle have no doubt been chosen to offset inexperienced
use. In my video review on youtube I said it represented the dumbing
down of axes more than any other tool I’ve seen. Well, I should qualify
that somewhat, because there is so much absurdity in the hatchet market
right now that I might do myself harm from all the head shaking, eye
rolling and face palming if I were to spend too much time on amazon
looking at the latest collection of abominations. I think I said that
because this is sold in a line of traditional axes. The line includes a
carpenter’s axe and a multi-use light axe with 26 inch handle, both of
which look much more promising. This is nothing approaching any
traditional hatchet I’ve seen and even if it was it was still a bad
design for a multi-use tool. I think this dumbing down for the lowest
common denominator (or what Peter Vido calls the devolution of axe
handles) is the wrong approach for many of the people who are buying
this hatchet. My prized pet hatchet, a very small Swedish head, has a
very small eye. The handle is probably around 23 years old and was lost
in a field for an entire year. Yet, here it is yet, battered, having
chopped through enormous amounts of wood, the tiny eye crammed with 4
metal wedges to keep it on!, still unbroken. I broke handles learning
not to break this one, but that is just the process we have to go
through. Increasing the eye and handle size until the actual
functionality of the tool becomes compromised is not a good solution!
Learning the limits of handles and how to replace and repair is part of
the deal when it comes to owning and using hatchets. The various “fool
proof” options that have been devised for the increasingly unskilled
market all come with an unacceptable cost so far as I’ve seen.

One of the first things I would think to grab in a house
fire is this super light Swedish hatchet that has been with me for
probably 25 years or more. This crusty, old and somewhat crude Black
Locust handle inserted in the tiny eye is probably around 23 years old,
and remains unbroken. I would guess that I’ve worn nearly 1/4 inch of
steel off the edge by sharpening since hafting it to this handle, so it
has seen a whole lot of use in that time. To my way of thinking, the
answer to the problem of handle breakage in hatchets is not to try to
idiot proof them. I broke a lot of handles to get where I am today, but
that is one of the very reasonable prices I paid for proficiency and
knowledge. And that is as it should be.

I
think most of the people that are buying the Husqvarna hatchet are
earnestly interested in obtaining a quality hatchet for bushcraft,
lifestyle or woodworking use. But this hatchet is not designed well for
any of that. It’s designed like something you’d have laying around to
split kindling, tossed in a chainsaw tray, or under your pickup seat, to
drive a wedge here and there (or use as a wedge itself), or to knock
off the occasional limb. Do we need a 40.00 forged hatchet for that
stuff? It doesn’t seem very modifiable as a hatchet and besides that,
the modifications would be major enough to prompt the question “why
bother?” Reducing the head weight by removing steel, (which I
considered even before I purchased it), is pretty much nixed by the
enormous eye. Perhaps it’s too much to expect an heirloom forged tool
for 40.00 that is consistent in quality, but it could at least be
designed well in the first place.

Here
is what I’d like to see. I’d like to see Husqvarna stop producing this
design or at least add a more sensible and versatile model, even if it
is more expensive. It doesn’t make any sense to me. It seems much
better to design a hatchet that is a real hatchet, designed for
versatile one handed use, not an overbuilt clunker like this. New users
that are serious need to get a real hatchet with a normal sized eye and
maybe break the handle a couple of times while learning its limits and
how to put on and make new handles, not something that has limited
potential because it is designed for the lowest common denominator. I’m
not sure I could design the very best hatchet head pattern, or handle
for that matter, but designing one better than this doesn’t seem
difficult. Just making the eye smaller and reducing the weight would be
a great start.

SO WHAT TO DO?

So,
what is a new earnest user to do in the meantime to acquire an
affordable new hatchet that is designed and manufactured well? I can
only throw so much money at the problem reviewing one crappy tool after
another, or ordering hatchets which I already know have handles that are
too short. For most mass manufactured brands, I’d also have to test
the steel and manufacturing quality on multiple samples to get an idea
of consistency. A better option in many ways is to buy used. There are
a lot of quality hatchet heads bouncing around out there. Some are
ruined by burning the handles out in a fire, or by being ground too fast
on electric grinders. Some were not even manufactured well in the
first place. But very many of them are not only okay, but quite
excellent. Yes, a hand forged Swedish steel hatchet is neat I guess,
but it is not in any way necessary and it will not do the work for you
or perform significantly better just because someone tapped it with a
hammer a few times, quite possibly the contrary. Looking good should
fall second to functionality. I get the aesthetic thing, believe me, I
fall for it too, but it is a dangerous trap! Later, once ready, I would
not discourage anyone from investing in a high quality hand forged
Swedish hatchet if you can find a decent model, although the handles
I’ve seen are much too short and thick, so I would lose them and put on a
longer straight one. I only have direct experience with one Gransfors
Bruks hatchet, which I liked well enough, but I bought just the head and
put on my own handle on it. I have yet to use or examine an older,
used Swedish axe head that didn’t seem worth owning. Buying a clean
looking one on ebay is probably a pretty good gamble and you can do that
and spend less overall than buying the Husqvarna. Add a 16 or 17 inch
straight handle and you could have an amazing tool. There are plenty of
good American brands too, and others. Try first to find one from a
friend or in a junk store. There are still a lot of them lying about
that can be had for cheap or free.

Acquiring
a hatchet and learning to use it, maintain it and replace or make
handles is a journey. It’s been a long but rewarding journey for me so
far, and it’s far from over. I have all sorts of questions remaining
and new ones come up occasionally. It’s a journey worth taking. Much
versatile work can be done with this simple tool, but the tool and the
knowledge to use, maintain, and repair it come as a package. We can’t
just plunk down some cash and be on our way, and even the best designed
hatchet will perform poorly in inexperienced hands. It certainly would
help to have an option in the market that was plug and play and the rest
can be learned from there, but I’m not sure that there is, and people
may not be able to afford it anyway, as much as it may be worth the cost
if the tool is put to use over many years. It is quite likely that if
you hunt around a bit and find a free or cheap head, you can put
together a very satisfactory hatchet for as little as no money at all,
while learning a lot in the process. If the project does not go as
planned, it is only a waste of time if you don’t learn something and go
forward with that new knowledge.

If
you made it this far, thank you for your attention and I would be
pleased to hear your comments or new hatchet recommendations.

Bio:
Steven Edholm. I have been pursuing various practical arts from
primitive to more modern for most of my life in an attempt to regain
some of the freedom we have lost as modern living has made us less able
to provide for our own needs. I think about, experiment with, practice,
write about and make videos about such things mostly at www.SkillCult.com and www.youtube.com/skillcult